Will Nexus 10 Expose Google’s Weakness?
Kochutressia is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.
The world of technology has always been the one that keeps changing frequently. From Abacus to Microcontrollers, from embedded systems to full-fledged programmable devices, from CRTs to LEDs, from Pagers to Smart Phones and from Slates to Tablets, the journey has been incredible and revolutionary. Discoveries, Inventions, Innovations and Developments were at full swing, changing the personal computing experience.
The most buzzing words in the market today are ‘Smart Phones’ and ‘Tablets’. After the release of the iPhone by Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), every tech company wanted to get into mobility. iPhone changed the way an internet communicator worked and also revolutionized the mobile computing industry. Another amazing product from Apple was the iPad, a powerful, beautifully designed and touch enabled tablet PC. An amazing operating system from Apple, iOS, was the backbone for both iPhone and iPad.
**Source: http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/aapl/interactive-chart?timeframe=1y&charttype=line
After the release of the iPhone in 2007, the share price of Apple touched the sky. With the release of every new version, the share price kept increasing. In fact before every new release the anticipation for a new and better product drove the share price higher. Before the release of iPhone 5, Apple went on to become the most valuable U.S Company in the world.
Another amazing mobile operating system was released by Google (NASDAQ: GOOG). Android is the World’s leading Smart Phone platform. OEMs like Samsung, HTC, LG, etc. manufacture Smart Phones with Android as the platform. Android was designed not just for smart phones but also for tablets.
**Source: http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/goog/interactive-chart
As we can see from the above chart, the share price of Google also had been on an increasing trend after the release of Android in the year 2008. Today Google is trading above $700.
Google Nexus is a line of mobile devices using the Android operating system produced by Google in cooperation with select hardware manufacturers. The purpose of the Nexus series is to offer a "pure Android" experience, in which the devices comes free of carriers or manufacturer modifications and with an unlockable bootloader, to allow for further development and end-user modification. Nexus devices are considered the "flagship" Android devices and are the first to receive updates of the operating system. Nexus One, Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus were the few smartphones in the Nexus series. While Nexus 7 is a Google Nexus Tablet.
Another new Google Nexus tablet is the Nexus 10 which is rumored to be manufactured by Samsung. The 10.1-inch tablet will boast a pixel density that is higher than Apple's third-generation iPad, according to Richard Shim, an analyst at NPD DisplaySearch. The 2,560 x 1,600 display will have a PPI (pixels per inch) of about 299, said Shim. That tops the 264 PPI on the 9.7-inch 2,048 x 1,536 Retina iPad.
According to analysts, unlike Nexus 7, Nexus 10 is going to be a high-end device.
This should be good news to Google, right? But is it?
Maybe not. There is a problem. When it comes to Smartphones or Tablets, the most important factor that pulls the users is the Apps that run on the device. While Apple’s App Store is flourishing with apps for the iPad, Google’s Play market is still all too often smartphone-centric in its wares. It’s still hard to put together a convincing list of tablet apps that show off the best of Android hardware.
When it comes to accessories, we have seen Android tablets featuring numerous add-ons like removable keyboards and digital pens which Apple has never bothered to play with. Manufacturers like Samsung and others have stepped up with customized apps to take advantage of those features themselves. However any Samsung tablet launched under the Nexus brand will have pure Android as Google intends. It means no customized apps from Samsung will be included. The buyers will have to be satisfied with only those apps which are available from the Play store, the bulk of which is software intended for smart phones and not tablets. The Nexus 7 had a 7-inch screen and hence even the smartphone apps looked fine on the screen. But with a 10.1 inches display, the Nexus 10 would need a completely new and customized screen layout for every app available in the Play store. Google needs to figure out how to wake up more developers to Android’s tablet apps, or the Samsung Nexus 10 is only going to emphasize how poorly prepared the platform is.
If Google does not act quickly and if the right apps are not available at the Play store, it may affect sales of the new Android device. This will definitely have some negative impact on the share price of Google. Though Android will still be the platform for many other smart phones, the lack of apps for its pure Android devices will not go unpunished.
Google’s Android will soon be facing a tough competition from Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows 8 Operating System. With OEMs like Nokia, HP, Asus, HTC, Samsung, etc. manufacturing smart phones and tablets with Windows 8 as the platform, Google will have to gear up and keep Android devices up-to-date to compete in the market. Microsoft is also coming up with its own tablets ‘Surface’ and ‘Surface pro’. These tablets will run Windows RT and Windows 8 Pro respectively. Microsoft has also announced that the company plans to aggressively pursue 100,000-plus apps over the first three months after launching Windows 8.
So if Google delays in making apps available for its Nexus 10 device at Play Store, then the demand for this device will fall drastically. The users these days have a lot of choices and it won’t take time for them to give up their loyalty for Android and move towards a Windows 8 device. The fall in share price would be proportionate to the fall in sales and good will. Google has been trading over $700 for quite some time now. One wrong step and the share price will fall below this magic number.
So all we have to say is ‘Wake up Google before and take control of the situation’.
tressia88 has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple, Google, and Microsoft. Motley Fool newsletter services recommend Apple and Google. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.If you have questions about this post or the Fool’s blog network, click here for information.
